All right — we need to talk for a moment about propositions, and tie it in with the point of my previous post. Emergent advocates consistently oppose the importance of “story” to the land of arid “propositions,” whence they are departing. I have argued that this is simply a profound category confusion — stories are …
Painting the Couch
One of the most exasperating features of emergent church thinking is the constant tendency to set propositional statements over against narrative. Abandoning propositions, they are trying to recover the idea of pastor as story-teller. As I have pointed out before, this is like abandoning verbs and nouns in favor of sentences, or lumber for houses. …
When And What To Plunder From the Egyptians
Whenever believers confront unbelieving cultures, the perennial question arises — what can and cannot be taken from them and used by us in the advancement of the kingdom? One of the most enduring illustrations of what to do here is the image given by one of the early church fathers, which is that of plundering …
Good Old Justus
In one sense, postmodernism is far worse than a particular heresy, because at least the old heretics made truth claims. The kind of universal corrosive that postmodernism brings with it affects everything, including the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It rots out lies as well as the truth; but since a lie is a perverse tribute to the …
Epistemological Noogies
My friend Phil Johnson recently read and liked my thread on postmodernism. And of course, I liked the fact that he liked it. But he added a little something at the end of his review that indicated ongoing misunderstandings on another subject, to wit, the whole Auburn Avenue thing. Phil mused that some of my …
Fighting Fundies
My friend John Armstrong has recently written about the need to correct the spirit of fundamentalism. He sees the ditch on the right side of the road (fundamentalism) as presenting a greater danger to evangelicalism than the ditch on the left side (liberalism, postmodernism). Now I happen to think that there are more denominational and …
Two Idols on a Shelf
I am grateful that Andrew Sandlin recently posted reasons to be concerned about postmodern eclectism. But he also voiced reasons for cautious optimism in embracing postmodern eclecticism, and this is the nub of our difference, as I see it. Andrew’s reason for accepting this eclectism is that it “breaks the back of ideologues and sectarians.” …
Flat and Round
Wrongly handled, stories are as flat as any syllogism. And rightly handled, an argument (filled to the brim with propositions) can be as round and incarnational as Sam Gamgee.
Liturgy and Postmodernism
Andrew Sandlin has recently written about the liturgical resurgence in Reformed circles, and you can read his take here. I think he makes several solid points, and of course as a high church Puritan, I think he misses much of what is going on. But my point is not so much the liturgical debate, but …
Style Over Substance
The story is told of the preacher who had prepared a manuscript of his sermon, and in the margin of one section he had scribbled a note to himself. “Argument weak. Shout here.” The phenomenon can be seen in many settings. Lousy rock bands often invest significantly in dry ice and laser light shows. All …